[witeout1]

Does anyone around here happen to have a child with SEVERE allergies?

I suspected something was up when I was in China adopting our little girl. She was covered in ezema and clawed herself a lot.
Now here we are 4 years later with a great doc and a diagnosis.
She is severely allergic to most everything.

A hug from a dog owner means a possible ER visit as she swells like the elephant man

We sadly live in a house with a crawl space and apparently thats a big no no.
Georgia is hot and humid so we are spending a week moving her bedroom upstairs to a room with pergo floors.
I have bought dust mite protectors and gotten rid of most everything she owns, even pretty comforters.

I could really use an allergy buddy or really a mom also dealing with this?
Anyone in my shoes that has time to talk?

My side concern is that we have experienced so many pay cuts that I had started air drying my clothes inside and opening windowns to save on air.
These are BIG no nos and bring in more of what we need to avoid.
I did not know that dust mites love air moisture either.
I also have to wash in hot water now, use bleach, and dry, sometimes REALY hot her items.

I am wondering things like, how much are dehumidifiers?
How do you tell the moisture % in a house?
How can I save money on utilities with these issues?

Ok I am rambling.
Thanks if your in the know on this stuff and have time to share

[CouponingMoms4641]

Hi....I am totally into Alternative Medicine, but am also a mom of five kids, one of whom had eczema severely when he was a baby. I was so embarrassed to take him to church with eczema all over his face, and he would scratch so badly that it would bleed. I put socks on his hands to keep him from scratching, but he would work the socks off eventually. Anyway, I did a ton of research to find out what was going on because my doctor just wanted to give us Cortisone cream to stop the itch. When I researched this subject, I kept coming to the conclusion it was a yeast/fungus that was causing the eczema outbreaks. This would make sense because whenever he was kept dry, the eczema would clear up for awhile, but when things got moist, sure enough, it would flare up again real bad. I finally got some Miconazole (anti-yeast cream found in the women's section) from Wal-Mart and started applying it sparingly to the area, and finally got some clearance. Believe it or not, this stuff is ultra cheap at Wal-Mart and was so worth the money. It cleared up real fast (within a month) on him and we were able to go to church without being embarrassed. By the way, no text book (Merck Manual, etc.) will tell you that eczema is a yeast/fungus issue. They just refer to it as a skin condition that can be aggravated by certain foods, moisture, etc. One more thing.....it sounds like your son's thymus is very weak. This is the core of why he has so many allergies affecting him. I personally take Arginine (amino acid) daily to keep my thymus strong. Thy thymus affects immunity because it puts out T cells that fight off pathogens. Alot of bodybuilders use it to increase muscle mass, but it also builds immunity. I would get it in capsule form, open it up, and mix it into applesauce, oatmeal, etc....whatever food he can tolerate. Give it 30 days to see results, as natural remedies take time to build up in the system. Like I said, I take this supplement daily and I have only had one cold in the last two years because of it. I would never be without it. Take care, and I hope this info. helps you.

[bcustons]

I have horrible allergies. I have gotten 3 allergy shots per week my whole life. I am allergic to everything they test for. I have to take 2 types of medicine every day.

The biggest difference in my life has been the whole house air cleaning system. Those individual rooms ones don't really work and cost more. I have a aprilaire and it was only around $500 online. Opening your windows and drying cloths outside is one of the worst things you can do. The problems with inside vs. outside air started when weatherproofing homes became so big in the 70s and 80s.

[Mary.K]

Good luck, I know this must be frustrating. I would agree with checking out alternative treatments. Whenever anyone in my family has some sort of ailment, I've found tons of ideas just searching online. If you have an acupuncturist nearby, I would visit them. Not necessarily for the acupuncture, but for alternative treatments. I have had great luck with them. The ones I've seen have a great bedside manner and I found took their time with me, not rushing me in and out, really spending the time to get enough info to really help. It's worth a shot anyway.

[Mary.K]

Also, don't know where you live, but in my area a few months ago, there was a lab doing research on new allergy products. I attended cause I thought I was having seasonal allergies, but I didn't qualify. There were adults and children in the waiting room and I talked to a couple of people. They said they were getting great relief from this product, like nothing they'd ever tried before. My point is, you might want to see if anything like this is going on in your area. I found it on Craigslist under community, by searching study.

[BeckyScott]

CouponingMom, I have a similar story. DS has had eczema since he was a baby. We've tried every rx made and none do any good.

Because he also has autism we had gone to a DAN dr (who would definately come under "alternative meds", LOL), who did labs, and this child's yeast was off the chart. He gave us Nystatin. Although it was temporary and didn't do anything for the autism, it did wonders for the eczema.

He couldn't stay on that forever, though, so afterwards I experimented with OTC stuff. However, I haven't tried the stuff you recommended, I went more for the athlete's-foot-variety. I shall have to venture to the women's section and see what I can find.

witeout, my DS has a lot of allergies, although none are severe exactly or anaphalactic (sp?). Lots of food, and almost every plant you'd find around here. He's just a mess is all. He gets his own food, and it ain't cheap, which is part of the reason I'm here at AFC.

I don't know how helpful it would be for you, but for reading you could look into the autism stuff, Defeat Autism Now, Autism Research Institute, TACA. Many of the autism kids have eczema, and the parents have turned to alternative treatments with success. Although, as CouponingMom already pointed out, most of those parents have linked it to yeast/fungal.

For your questions, we have a small humidifier that is just by his bed, it's not a whole-house one. We only use it in the winter. They're cheap enough, like $20. They have them in the pharmacy at WalMart, going into winter they're pretty easy to find.

We used to have an electronic thermometer that would also tell the humidity. (I wonder where that went? Hmmm) You might check at Lowe's or something, it was just a small electronic thermometer thingy that you'd put on a desk, but it also showed the humdity %.

The last question the answer as far as I can tell, is: You don't save money that way. There aren't many good ways to save a bunch of money on special food or the good supplements. What you have to do is save money everywhere else you can, so you have enough left over to buy the expensive stuff you need. At least, that's the only solution I've come up with. I've even emailed companies (like the EnerG people that make gluten-free bread) and many of them don't have q's, and if they do they're not worth much $$ compared to the cost of the item.